Hell on Earth
by Sailor Wade
Summary: MAJORLY AU. He says that mutants and humans could live together in peace. What if he's wrong? The world of tommorrow is not a place you want to be in.
1. So this is the world

Wanda Maximoff-Lensherr groggily opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling above her 'bed'. If you could call compacted dirt and rocks a ceiling, or a blanket and a patch of cold earth a bed. She stumbled to her feet, swaying slightly as the fatigue-induced haze began to lift.  
  
'Maybe I shouldn't be up yet, who knows, it may not even be morning yet. I mean who can tell, living inside a hole in the ground' she thought as she shuffled out of the designated sleep cave into the more spacious, but no less claustrophobic living area. Three of her 'cave mates' were already up and about.  
  
"Morning guys" Wanda mumbled reaching for the juice, only to find it not in its normal spot in the middle of the table, "No juice". The tallest of the other three nodded.  
  
"Marie drank it all." Jean Grey replied from the 'kitchen', a space in the living hole where they had an esky and the remnants of a small fire.  
  
"Hey, it's not like anyone told me there was no more." A girl with brown and white hair snapped back.  
  
"No juice..." Wanda pushed her medium length hair out of her eyes and glared.  
  
"Alright, I'll get some more today." Marie Darkholme grumbled staring into her bowl of...whatever Jean had made. A rumbling sound interrupted any further comment on the issue. The floor began to shake and anything not nailed down began to move. Everyone in the room waited, each holding her breath. But the rumbling died down and they all let out a collective sigh.  
  
"Like, I'll never get used to those Sentinels." Kitty Pryde whined attempting to use the semi-reflective surface of the broken TV to fix her hair.  
  
"Don't worry, they won't be around for much longer." Wanda said, now almost fully awake.  
  
"Whatever you say Wanda," Jean replied skeptically. Out of all the girls, Wanda seemed to have the most optimistic attitude towards the Sentinels future. She appeared to fully believe that when they found her father, assuming he wasn't killed in the camps, that he could just wave his hand and make the sentinels go away. Jean had met Wanda's father, Erik a few times when he came over to the mansion to visit the professor, and she knew from Cerebro's files that he had magnetic powers, but could a man really be that strong. There were probably hundreds of Sentinels out there and he was just a laboratory worker with four children. To accomplish something of this magnitude he'd have to be a god.  
  
Marie snorted into her breakfast mush. The dark haired girl across from her never ceased to amuse her. It was like she lived in a fantasy world. No scratch that, she DID live in a fantasy world. Everything in Wanda's life had been easier that her own. Wanda only had one parent but he managed to work full time and raise three children at a time. She herself only had one full time parent, and when her mother had to work, she'd disappear for days, maybe weeks at a time, leaving her and her brother Kurt to fend for themselves. Wanda's powers had come in gradually, allowing their host to adjust over a long period of time and gain control. Marie's had hit her full force one day, nearly sending her insane with the changes her life took. Wanda used to be popular and have heaps of friends at school, and was on numerous sporting teams. Marie's family moved so much she never had time to build up a rep, good or bad at any particular school, and her powers meant that most sport was out of the question.  
  
Marie smiled suddenly. At least I had less of a way to fall when I realized we're living in hell on earth. I'll be laughing when she realizes it.  
  
AN:  
  
Like it? Should I continue? If so, I'm introducing some more female mutants next chapter, so if there's someone you want to see suggest it and I'll include them, if I know enough about them, or if I don't already have plans for them. All cannon x-men evolution characters are already planned for, except the new recruits at Xavier's school. Entries close.....never, I like suggestions!! 


	2. Bonding in a cave

AN: Hey all, just a note to tell you all that this chapter is just dialogue. It's not even in my original plan, but then the first review I received reminded me that I'm the only one who knows what's going on at the moment and if I don't start explaining something soon, no-body's going to understand, or read my story. So this is just a bit of background. Also, I need two more female mutants before the next chapter will be posted, because I'm stumped as to whom to put in besides Psylock and Aurora. Thanks, and Enjoy. This is dedicated to my 2 reviewers Erikstrulove and Lyranfan.  
  


* * *

  
With Marie and Kitty out on supply scavenging duty, Jean and Wanda had the cave all to themselves, a rarity due to the different schedules they kept.  
  
"I don't think Marie likes me very much," Wanda said, looking up at Jean whilst she attempted to sew her blanket into something half useful.  
  
"What makes you say that?" Jean asked.  
  
"Well she always seems so mad at me, glaring me and stuff."  
  
"Oh Marie's always like that." Jean sat down next to the younger girl.  
  
"How long did you know her, before..." Wanda trailed off.  
  
"Before the camps? I didn't know her that well. She and her brother, Kurt moved to the institute a week before the attack by the Sentinel. Their mother just kind of dumped them there so she could go off and do some job in town, so most of the time they were just complaining about her."  
  
"That must be tough, being stuck with a parent like Raven Darkholme. I mean, I never met her, but some of the things I heard about her, well she didn't seem like the nicest of people." Wanda finished politely  
  
"Yes she certainly 'wasn't the nicest of people' that's for sure. I don't know what she did for a living, but I think it pretty shifty work, on the first day he was at the institute, Kurt amazed everyone by breaking into Cerebro with a paperclip. He said he learnt it from watching her work." Jean shook her head with a smile, remembering everyone's faces when they found out he'd also installed Pong whilst he was there.  
  
Pushing away the memory Jean turned to Wanda, who looked eager to hear another tale from the institute. "So, What about you? You never talk about your family."  
  
Wanda looked surprised. "What do you want to know?"  
  
"Well, do you have any siblings?" A dark look flashed over Wanda's face. Jean suddenly wished she hadn't brought it up. "It's alright if you don't want to talk about it."  
  
"No it's ok, I just try not to think about them. I miss them, you know?" Wanda took a deep breath and began, "I have two sisters and a twin brother. The eldest is Anya; she'd be about 26 by now. Pietro, my brother and I always secretly thought that she was dad's favorite. Every time he looks at her, he just looks so happy," Jean tried to protest but Wanda kept talking.  
  
"A couple of months before my brother and I were born, Anya was caught in a fire that very nearly killed her, I can see Dad's just happy she's alive. I worry what might have happened to him if he lost her, I mean he used to get nuts enough if any of us got hurt, I can't even imagine what it would be like if any of us died." There was a heavy silence, which Jean broke when she couldn't stand it any more.  
  
"You said you had two sisters..." Wanda's face immediately lit up at the change in topic.  
  
"Oh yeah, the other one is Lorna, she is such a cutie. My mother died shortly after 'Tro and I were born, and when Dad started dating again, he met this really nice lady; they went out for about a year, then BAM! We hear nothing from her for a while then she shows up on our doorstep pregnant."  
  
"Really? Wow, it's like something out of a soap." Wanda nodded with a smile.  
  
"Yeah that's what we thought. But after Lorna was born they all got tested and she really is my half sister. She used to live with us for half of the year and her mother for the other half. Luckily she was with her mother when the sentinels started taking people, so she should still be safe. Just so long as she got rid of that green hair of hers."  
  
Jean nodded, thought for a second and then did a double take. "Green hair?"  
  
Wanda just shrugged.  
  
Another long pause, although this time a much more comfortable one passed before Wanda voiced the one thought that Jean had been thinking almost constantly since their camp was freed.  
  
"I want everything back to normal. When are we going back for those still at the camps?"  
  
Jean closed her eyes, trying to push the memories of her life in the camps back, running her hand through her hair.  
  
"I don't kno...I mean, we don't even have a clear idea of how many escaped when we did. We need more people to launch an attack of that scale, we were very lucky to escape, and I don't think we can rely on the same luck to help free the others. No doubt since we left, security has increased, so we will have to find the others who made it out before we start making a plan." Jean finished her speech sounding confident, yet inside she was terrified.  
  
"What if we're it?" Wanda looked at Jean as if the red head held all the answers. As Jean was just wondering the same thing as Wanda, she found it hard to put on a brave face. But she did, as always.  
  
She smiled and shook her head. "There are others, I know there are, I'm psychic remember?"  
  
Wanda smiled for Jean's benefit and as the red head stood and went back to the kitchen area. Jean was no more capable of finding the others from their hiding spot as the Sentinels were, but Wanda appreciated Jean's effort to comfort her all the same. 


	3. There's one in every group

Later in the day, the team that was rostered on for the supply run, plus Marie, met in the tunnel way that connected each of the 'house-caves' to each other.  
  
This week's team consisted of:  
  
Kitty who was known also as Shadowcat.  
  
Emma Frost, a 19-year-old blonde haired telepath who could also change her skin into diamond also known as White Queen although no one knew why.  
  
Elisabeth Braddock, a purple haired psychic who could conjure up blades of energy, and who could also travel by walking though shadows.  
  
Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, an elfish looking 17 year-old girl who could fly at super fast speeds and had a load of other powers that she liked to tell everyone about but never actually use.  
  
And  
  
A mysterious dark haired girl known only as Sage, whose mind worked like a computer in it's ability to store vast amounts of information and analyse data, people and situations. She had designed the teams that went on the supply runs each week based on the powers and natural abilities that was best suited to the time the run was taking place. The time depended on which surveillance route the sentinels were using, but thanks to Sage, the girls knew exactly where the Sentinels were going to be and the exact time for each different route, unless someone slipped up and was spotted, but each team trusted each other just enough to know that they weren't going to sabotage each other.  
  
Most of the girls in the cave system had met in the camps, original geographic location being no barrier, as to the government, a mutant was a mutant and they all belonged in the same place. New York.  
  
Maybe it was because the first public mutant sightings were in Bayville, the world being exposed to mutants in their very own living rooms when the fight between a protector of humanity, the Sentinel, and a group of vigilante freaks, the X-men was broadcast worldwide. It didn't matter to the world that the sentinel attacked the school in the middle of the night, with no provocation, all that mattered was that these 'dangerous creatures' had the audacity to defend themselves instead of rolling over and dying to make a bunch of strangers feel a tiny bit safer in a cruel world.  
  
Or maybe it was just that President Robert Kelly held a grudge against them, from his days as their principle. Either way, it was decided that the city of New York was 'lost' to the mutants and was the most obvious choice. As their captors were American soldiers, every inmate was required to learn English, and fast lest they misunderstand an order and get shot, as to set an example.  
  
It was times like these supply runs that Kitty really wished that some would just keep their mouths shut, instead of showing off their newfound language by unnecessarily complaining.  
  
"Can ve just get zis over wit? I have better tings to do wit my time zan sit around 'ere waiting for you all to realize that ve aren't going to get caught simple because ve step out two seconds early." Jeanne-Marie complained flipping her surprisingly long predominately black hair over her shoulder, hitting Marie in the face. Jeanne-Marie looked surprisingly good, even if her self-important stance clashed with her torn and stained brown standard camp issue tunic.  
  
Kitty glared at French-Canadian girl. Just because she was a few months older that Kitty, she thought she was above taking advice from and working together with her.  
  
During their time in hiding, Kitty had come to appreciate that teamwork and careful planning were essential to survival, yet some just didn't seem to get it. Jeanne-Marie, known also as Aurora was one of these people.  
  
She just didn't seem to get that she was invulnerable, and mostly everyone else wasn't. According to her, as long as she was ok, that was all that mattered, well, that and making sure that everyone around her knew she was powerful and as soon as she found her brother, she was going to leave. It really surprised Kitty that Aurora had any friends at all.  
  
Marie, who in these situations was called Rouge, leaned against a far wall, apart from everyone, spitting out imaginary hair.  
  
'Just one touch, then I'd be able to give her what's coming to her' She slowly leaned forward, reaching for the girl whose back was turned, when a hand grabbed her still gloved wrist.  
  
"Do you really want her stuck in your head Rouge?" Emma whispered. Marie looked torn for a while, before slouching back against the wall. The White Queen leaned back next to her.  
  
"Thanks, that could have been a huge mistake." Marie turned and faced one of her only friends. Emma turned and looked at the brown and white haired girl.  
  
"Just looking out for the group, I don't think it could cope with two of 'it'." Both girls laughed, ignoring the quizzical stares from the rest of the group. Even though Emma was a year older than Marie, since they both had a similar sense of humor, they got on quite well.  
  
"Ok, now Aroura and White Queen, you're going to get the water. Last week's group went to the rainwater trap on the east side of town, so you'd better, like, go to the west side this time." Emma nodded dully, whilst Aroura mock saluted Kitty and made her way to the ladder that lead topside.  
  
Most in the camps looked up to, or at least would take orders from a former x-man. This was either because they had seen the X-men survive in combat against a sentinel, or because they knew the x-men had been key players, along with the mysterious group known only as 'The outsiders', in the escape from the camps.  
  
"Then that leaves me and you, Sage, to get the food and Psylock, you're on scavenger duty, we're running out of medical supplies and could probably do with some more blankets. Try the area around where the hospital used to be, Sage thinks there is still some useful things there." Elisabeth Braddock jerked her head in response, and then disappeared into the shadows.  
  
Kitty smiled, grateful for small miracles, especially miracles in the form of ex-secret service junior recruit shadow walking psychics. Kitty hated putting anyone in danger, but when Psylock was on duty, the only people in danger around her was anyone who tried to step in her way.  
  
Also, the Sentinels had trouble tracking her, if they locked onto her, because she could just disappear. The only person today Kitty worried about was the poor girl stuck with Aroura on water duty. Then again, White Queen was pretty difficult to get along with, so maybe they deserved each other.  
  
Rouge slinked towards the remaining two people.  
  
"Well, lets get a move on, those flat lines-only supermarkets aren't going to rob themselves."  
  
AN:  
  
Ok, thanks to Nari for the idea of Sage and Emma, I have big plans for them now, Mwhahahahaha. But all who don't read the comics don't worry, the X- men evolution people will still be the main cast, and I hope I haven't confused you too much about the non-x-men evolution characters.  
  
Thanks to my reviewer of chapter 2: Hnh  
  
And for those of you waiting on the guys of X-men Evo, they'll get here soon, one way or another *Evil laugh*. They'll probably be introduced shortly after I get back from a family vacation, so it might be a bit longer until I update again. Till then, Thanks for reading! 


	4. Punishment must be served

Food gathering duty was both the easiest and the hardest duty out of the bunch.  
  
The easy part was that the flat-lines who owned the supermarkets, convenience stores and warehouses were predominantly stupid, and those who weren't, didn't like to admit to being out thought by mutants, even to the police, so they tended to explain the missing merchandise as the occasional shoplifter. Occasional shoplifters who managed to escape time and again with vast quantities of food that could never have been snuck out the front door unnoticed, and who defiantly *not* mutants.  
  
The hard part was that the nearest food storage place was at least a state and a half away, as everyone wanted to be as far away from the 'Mutant state' as possible. Then there was the problem of transporting all the food back, a task that would have been impossible without some majorly helpful mutant powers and a foolproof plan. Lucky for Kitty, she had the majorly helpful mutant powers down packed and Sage was a foolproof plan personified.  
  
When Sage had first scanned Kitty back in the camps, at the flat-scans oh so nice 'Do this or we'll hotwire your brain and make you' request, they had her report every mutants powers so that they could discover the best way to detain them. What they didn't want to know about was an individual's potential, something that Sage stored away for later use. In Kitty she had made a surprising discovery.  
  
When Kitty 'phased' through objects, she didn't actually go through them, as travel through another dimension where they didn't exist, very much similar to a teleporting mutant she had scanned, but whilst he left this dimension entirely, Kitty's consciousness and essence remained rooted to her host dimension, which gave others the ability to see her whilst phasing. At least that's how Sage explained it when she later met up with Kitty in the cave system. Sage put forward the idea that if Kitty could somehow tap into the controls of the dimensional alignment she could travel long distances in her host world, whilst only traveling a short distance in the alternate dimension.  
  
Kitty had no clue what most of the technical things meant, she just knew that after practicing a whole bunch of exercises that Sage had given to her, she could teleport, sort of. She could apparently fly also, by partially phasing and altering her weight to float in the breeze, but she hadn't had time yet to practice that yet.  
  
Shadowcat's distance traveling powers took care of getting to the food sources, so long as she knew exactly how far she needed to travel, Sage's powers planned out what they needed to get and how to get it as stealthily as possible, and Rouge, as a special added advantage this time, could take out anyone who did see them.  
  
As Rouge waited in a corner of the sewer system below today's food source, a warehouse, she tried to avoid falling foodstuffs as they fell from their shelves, through the ground and into a specially hung up net, which Rouge didn't trust at all.  
  
"Don't forget Wanda's juice," She yelled to the ceiling. Shadowcat's head emerged upside down from the ceiling.  
  
"I thought you were supposed to get that." She said grinning mischievously. Rouge stared at her wide-eyed.  
  
"You're right there! Just grab some so we can go. I hate the sewers, as if weren't already dirty enough."  
  
"Uh uh, no way. I'm not going to do your penance for you," She then disappeared back into the ceiling. Rouge stared in disbelief at the spot where Shadowcat had disappeared.  
  
"I don't believe this! It's not even her juice it's the groups," Rouge appealed to Sage. Sage just stared blankly back at her, "Ugh, you're no help. Wait, what are the chances of me getting caught if I go up there to get juice?" Rouge asked.  
  
Sage looked at Rouge, then at a nearby stream of light coming from a crack above.  
  
"Judging by the time of day, your mutant camp attire and your distinctive hair colour, the probability of getting caught is 99.8%"  
  
"HA! Tell that to little miss 'do your own punishment'" Rouge grinned triumphantly. Sage glared at her briefly before nodding. Just because her brain acted like a computer, this girl seemed fixated on treating her like one...but when she was right, she was right. IT would do the group no good if she got caught.  
  
Rouge jumped out of the way as the net overflowed and 5 of the 20 packets of cereal landed right where she was standing, followed closely by a very pleased looking Shadowcat.  
  
"Hey watch where you're landing! Sage has something to tell you"  
  
"The probability of Rouge getting caught is 99.8% as opposed to you which is 2%," Sage said glaring at Rouge. Shadowcat looked apologetically at Sage, then jumped back through the ceiling, returning with a juice packet, and threw it at Rouges head. Rouge caught it and smiled.  
  
"Thank-you" Rouge said falsely bright. Shadowcat fake-smiled back and began detaching the net, replacing the fallen items and tied it into a sack like creation.  
  
"Alright, lets head out, this is all that will fit." She hefted the opening of the sack over her shoulder, whilst Rouge grabbed the back, and Sage held the middle. They were just about to leave, when Sage saw something out of the corner of her eye.  
  
"Wait, something not right." She said, as the others put down the sack.  
  
"What do you mean?" Shadowcat asked nervously. If someone had found out what they were doing, they might figure out where they were hiding, and force them back into the camps, or the more probable and worse option, kill them all.  
  
"I saw a large something, appear over there and head off that way." Sage said pointing. Rouge went to the corner of the tunnel the thing disappeared into. There was something there, a blob like thing in the corner.  
  
She slowly approached; as to not alert whatever it was to her presence. The blob moved slightly and Rouge could make out that it was something behind a pipe. It shifted again and she saw a flash of yellow, and then nothing. She ran to the pipe, hoping to see which way it went.  
  
There was nothing there, no splash noise of footsteps, nothing.  
  
"There's nothing here, it was probably a rat," she called to her teammates. A very big rat she thought to herself, then she wrinkled her nose, "Ugh, the sooner we get out of here the better, it smells like rotten eggs here."  
  
Assured, even if falsely, the three picked up their stash and Kitty moved them all back to their base.  
  
AN:  
  
Hey all I'm back! I wrote most of this at the coast whilst listening to way too perky music, so I hope it turned out alright! Ok from this chapter on I'll accept submissions for any mutant not in x-men: evolution you want, male or female, and a cyber cookie to anyone who can guess why I'm doing this from THIS chapter!  
  
Thanks to my reviewers, both new and returning:  
  
Erikstrulove – You're welcome, I love explaining things!  
  
Rouge Maverik – Here ya go!  
  
Lyranfan – Yes, Pong was created for the sole purpose of creating video game junkies! It's surprisingly addictive, I used to have Commander Keen 4 and one of the side games was Pong and I think I spent more time playing that than the actual game! Also, Psylock was an after thought, I just needed someone who could move freely like her, I'm glad you like her. I did have a good time on my vacation, although it was way too short (I miss the air conditioning already!) I did manage to write this whole chapter, and a romance scene for later in the story...ohhhhhh can anyone guess who I'm gunna put together? It'll blow your minds! 


	5. Shadows and Laughs

The shadowy figure moved quickly and quietly through the sewer system. They had almost seen him. He sped down a few more tunnels and skidding to a halt when he realized almost to late, that he was at his destination.  
  
"You're in a hurry, where's the fire?" Another shadowy figure emerged from the darkness.  
  
The first figure turned to the second.  
  
"There were people in the sewers. I don't think they saw me, I couldn't make them out and I have great night vision." The first figure tossed his head in self admiration, his shoulder length black and blue hair whirling around in such away it reminded the second figure of all those corny shampoo ads he used to see.  
  
"Yeah Nightcrawler, we all know you think you're great. So you gunna tell Mr. 'Thinks he runs our joint' about the sewer people?"  
  
Kurt laughed. "Yes, I can just see it now. 'Gee Scott, ya know how you used to really dislike me and my careless ways, and were just looking for a reason to kick me out? Well guess what? I was almost spotted! Yes me, the guy who can teleport and move like a world class gymnast in the blink of an eye was almost discovered by three little girls in a tunnel.' Hmmm, ya know what, I don't think so. He'd really hate me then, and I know how much you enjoy being the only one who can get on his nerves that much." Kurt smirked at the other man.  
  
"Three girls? They were three girls?" The other man asked disbelievingly. Kurt nodded. "Actual girls? I was starting to believe they were just a myth, but real girls! Wait, what were real girls doing in the sewer?"  
  
Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. Hey wait," Kurt's face lit up. "You don't think they were from the camp too?" He couldn't remember being this excited in a long time. If they were from the camps, then that meant that the mysterious 'Outsiders' freed more people than just his group.  
  
Once again, Kurt wished he knew more about the group everyone had dubbed the 'Outsiders', other than they were mysterious. Frankly, he was tired of thinking it. Lucky their groups resident genius was working on a way to find out more about their, here comes the word again, mysterious liberators.  
  
The other man stared seemingly impassively at the blue mutant in front of him. Although inside he was being torn up by the conflicting hope that a certain someone was alive, and the despair of knowing they might still be on the inside.  
  
"There's no way we could know for sure. We'll just have to wait till Forge finishes his whatever the heck he's making." Kurt took note of his associates expression and inwardly kicked himself, yet again he'd let his own desire to fool himself into thinking everything will be ok, hurt someone else.  
  
"Oh, hey look, I'm sorry, I didn't think. I'm sure she's...."  
  
"Just don't. It's alright really." A long pause passed, in which both men found the walls very interesting. It was finally broken by the other man laughing. Kurt raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"Well, if the girls really were from the camps, then in all probability, their base is somewhere between here and our base. I was just picturing the look on Cyke's face if he found out that all his plans and assumptions were wrong." He laughed again, much harder, when the image of Cyclops' face connected with the image of a kid whose lollipop was taken away.  
  
He knew Scott Summers pretty well, even though he knew Cyclops would have preferred that he not live under the same roof as him. They hated each other but there was nowhere else to go back then, who else other than Professor Xavier would open a home for mutants?  
  
Both guys continued laughing until they were doubled over.  
  
"Am I interrupting something?"  
  
A third person splashed their way towards the two leaping from spot to spot. Kurt straightened up first.  
  
"Oh hey Toad, It's about time you got here." Toad stuck his impressive tongue out at the annoying blue fuzzball.  
  
"So if you two are ready?" Both nodded, "Alright, let's Rock and roll!" The third man stared at Toad.  
  
"Ok, I don't care what you say, that time was deliberate."  
  
"It wasn't, I swear, after the shaky ground I've been on..."  
  
"Toad..." The floor and the walls of the tunnel rumbled.  
  
"Whoa, talk about being between a rock and a hard place..."  
  
"Toad!" Sounds from the street above alerted the group that their antics had been felt above ground.  
  
"Yeah Toad, we're trying to be stealthy. And Avalanche did concede that they were very lame puns," Avalanche glared at Kurt, but nodded all the same, "And he can't help it if he rock's their world."  
  
Toad grinned at Nightcrawler as they both inched away. Avalanche kept nodding for a bit, before he realized what the person supposedly on his side had said. He froze and then after a very amusing idea hit him, grinned evilly.  
  
"Let's just get on with this, Forge can't finish his invention without more supplies, and the sooner we get out of here, the better." Avalanche smiled falsely.  
  
"He's taking this too well," Nightcrawler whispered to Toad.  
  
"Yeah, should we be worried?" Avalanche strolled past them casually.  
  
"Not yet, but I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you two." He muttered, pushing past the stunned and slightly afraid pair, and heading off towards their destination.  
  
AN:  
  
Hello, Hello, Another update!! I can't believe I'm still writing this story since I was going to give it up after chapter 1!! Well, who guessed right about the shadowy figure? No one in the reviews did, but I bet some of you out there that don't review did. So you people only get half a cookie to share!  
  
A huge thank you goes out to last chapter's reviewers:  
  
Lyranfan: I'm glad that someone other than me liked the mutation I gave Kitty! I read something in the comics that gave me the idea. And oh, they'll mostly all be thinking of romance soon enough, you can be sure of that...I'm no good at it, but it'll be there!  
  
Scarlet Witch: Your review was the reason I decided to put Avalanche in this chapter. Originally he was going to be Scott, and I was just gunna mention Lance as a background character, but you got me thinking (A dangerous thing to do) and now he's going to be in it a bit more!  
  
Oh and incase it was unclear; yes Lance did used to live with the X-men. No Magneto leads to no brotherhood team, which leads to all the brotherhood living with the X-men...or does it? Mwhahahahaha! Stay tuned and find out! 


	6. Somethings never change

After a long and tiring search, the three found what they were looking for.  
  
"So, what the heck do you think it is?" Toad asked, looking more closely at the weird shaped metal object. Nightcrawler shrugged.  
  
"I don't know, but it matches the description Forge gave us and the locations about right, so lets just get it back, before they send a search party after us" Avalanche said.  
  
Nightcrawler nodded and extended both of his hands for the other two to take. Ten teleports later, they arrived at their base of operations, a hollowed out mountain not far from the X-mansion.  
  
Whilst the mansion was still half standing, it was way too dangerous to stay at, as the Sentinels had been programmed to scan it twice as many times as anywhere else, as it was a known mutant hideout. So when the group of some 20 male mutants needed a place to hide out, it was up to their self appointed leader, Scott Summers to find an alternative. Lucky he and some of his fellow X-men had stumbled across this cave after fleeing from the authorities after the Sentinels initial attack. He secretly hoped that if any of the X-women had escaped, they would think to head for that cave, but so far, there was no luck.  
  
The grim face of Scott Summers and the mutant genius known only as Forge met the three as they teleported to the assigned meeting place.  
  
"You're late" He glared at Avalanche. Avalanche went to say something, but thought better of it, and settled with just death glaring Scott.  
  
"Did you get it?" Forge asked anxiously. Nightcrawler held up the weird looking metal thing and Forge nearly bowled him over grabbing for it and running off to his 'inventing corner'.  
  
"YOU'RE WELCOME" Kurt yelled after the excited inventor. He liked the guy, but most of the time, Forge had such extreme tunnel vision, that nothing else mattered. But, if that was the price to pay to have a guy who could invent almost anything, it was worth it.  
  
"Sorry Kurt, thank you, this is exactly what I needed, the signal scrambler should be finished in no time," Forge's voice came through Kurt's watch, a device that Forge had created for them so they could keep in contact when outside the base.  
  
"Um ok," Toad said. He turned to the others "Do we even know what he's working on?"  
  
"It's a device of great importance and could be pivotal to our future survival." Scott said, adjusting his glasses.  
  
"So you got no idea either?" Todd asked. Kurt choked back a laugh. Scott cleared his throat, supposedly not bothered by Todd's comment, although his cheeks went red.  
  
"So I take it there were no problems?" Cyclops eyed them all carefully. They all shook their heads. Scott raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure? Because even small problems could lead to huge problems in the future. And if by chance you knew of a future problem, wouldn't you like us all to be prepared?" He paused for dramatic effect and smiled inwardly to himself, 'Guilt works 8 times out of 10'. "Were there any problems?"  
  
Lance and Kurt shook their heads, their lives before the institute had trained them well in lying to authority figures, but Todd looked unsure. Scott noticed this.  
  
"Alright you can go." Kurt teleported out of the room, and Lance headed off towards the kitchen Forge had constructed for them. Unfortunately Todd wasn't quite as fast as the other two. "Oh Todd? Could you wait back a bit?" Todd gulped nervously, Scott was the one that was responsible for him attending the institute, and he had known him the longest out of all the X- men, besides Jean, so even if they weren't the best of friends, Todd respected Scott, and really didn't like lying to him.  
  
"Yeah Scott?" Scott stared at him for a while. "What?" Todd asked, getting very anxious.  
  
"There was a problem wasn't there?"  
  
"What makes you think that?" Scott stared at him again. Todd fidgeted a bit more, even though he couldn't see the older boy's eyes, he could still feel them boring into him. "Alright, alright, but it wasn't so much of a problem, as an...unexpected event"  
  
Silence  
  
"Well maybe it was more like a snag we hit."  
  
Silence  
  
"A snag that Nightcrawler hit."  
  
Silence  
  
"Agh, Nightcrawler was spotted by sewer people, there are you happy?" Todd rushed, hoping away quickly before Cyclops entered 'loudly lecture anyone who will listen' mode.  
  
Scott hit his forehead with the palm of his hand in frustration. An unexpected event? More like a potential catastrophe. He'd have to find Nightcrawler as soon as possible; these 'sewer people' may be a problem. He activated the communicator on his watch.  
  
"Kurt, get back here" A bamf noise announced the arrival of the blotchy Nightcrawler, whilst predominantly blue, the hair on the top of his head still held some of it's original black colour, and where the others only had cuts and scratches, Kurt was also missing fur, which made his appearance quite strange, if not comical.  
  
"Yeah, what's up?"  
  
"Sewer people apparently. Why didn't you tell me that you were spotted?"  
  
Kurt shrugged nonchalantly. "Didn't think it was important"  
  
"You didn't think it was important? Do you have any idea what could have happened? You could have been followed." Kurt waved Scott off.  
  
"But I wasn't. Who could follow me?" At Scott's unamused look, Kurt continued, "Look, if anyone else was here, Forges sensor gizmo would pick up they didn't have one of these uberwatches on and start going off it's head, we're totally fine."  
  
"It's not just that you could have been followed, if a non-mutant..."  
  
"Flat scans"  
  
Scott ignored Kurt's racist interruption, "saw you then the government would be sure to up the number of sentinels on patrol, and that means trouble for everyone. We need the non-mutants to believe that the sentinels captured all people who escaped."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, be more careful next time, got it. Can I go now?" Scott waved a hand in well-hidden disgust at Kurt and he disappeared. He didn't like lecturing the others, but if there was no one to set the rules, then there would be chaos and they would all be captured in no time.  
  
He was headed off to the kitchen to find a snack, when a victorious yell echoed down the hallways. Heads popped out of every room to see what the commotion was about.  
  
Forge came running down the corridor to the main living area, where everyone was now gathered.  
  
"I finished it, it works" He exclaimed. There was an excited murmur amongst the group. Then one of the youngest mutants there, a red head named Rusty called out what all were thinking.  
  
"Great, what the heck is it?" There was a small ripple of laughter before Forge answered.  
  
"A highly sophisticated encrypted signal based communications device."  
  
A bewildered silence fell over the room. Forge rolled his eyes.  
  
"Super two way radio," The group replied in a single noise of recognition.  
  
"Great, but we don't have anyone to call." Kurt exclaimed.  
  
"Oh I think we do." Forge replied smugly. Scott caught on first.  
  
"You don't mean......I mean you couldn't know how to contact..."  
  
"Nothings impossible, it's all technology and that's what I'm a master at. I think it's time to find out a bit more about these 'Outsiders'"  
  
AN:  
  
Hello again everyone! Sorry for the wait, but I just started back at university (Ahh 2nd yr classes are scary!!) so I was getting ready for that. I also worked out some kinks in the rest of this story, so I'm pretty sure I know what's going to happen now. Aren't you all glad, the author kinda, sort of, maybe knows what's going to happen, reassuring huh? I also drew out some of the characters... not that that matters any to the story, I just like drawing them (Ha, Wanda the ex-cheerleader, if only normal Wanda could see it, oh there would be bloodshed!).  
  
Thanks go out to my reviewers:  
  
Demonrouge13 – I'm glad you like it, and I defiantly will continue this for a bit longer!  
  
Goofn1 – I'm not that big of a Lance fan, but I think he defiantly deserves some more time in this story (that way it's not overrun but comic characters). I will try to put in as much Lance/Kitty as I can...hmmmm I just got a great idea, hehehehe, Oh there will be Lance/Kitty, * Evil laugh*...*Cough* Sorry a Lance/Kitty sub-plot snuck up on me.  
  
Thank you for reading and reviewing.  
  
NEXT TIME: Ehhh I haven't decided yet...maybe some pretty little reviews will help me decide... it's worth a try ;) 


	7. You're really not that impressive

Whilst everyone present were murmuring excitedly, exchanging stories of the mysterious heroes and generally making a noise, Scott and Forge decided to attempt to make contact with the 'Outsiders'.  
  
On their way to Forge's inventing corner or the cave Scott tried to piece together all he knew of the outsiders.  
  
They were mutants, or at least humans with super powers.  
  
They somehow mostly avoided being captured in the main sentinel sweep.  
  
Their exact number isn't obvious, as when Scott saw some of them, they seemed to fade away, but there were at least eight of them.  
  
Scott didn't like that he had no idea who these people were, or what they could do. They seemed to know everything that they, being the mutants who were formerly x-men, could do, and as such had roles planned for them ahead of time for the camp escape. Scott used to think that maybe one of his teammates had avoided being captured, but it was unlikely. The sentinels struck with no warning, taking many of them down, and the ones that escaped initial capture were found within 4 hours and dragged off to the camps.  
  
"Hey leader man, snap out of it!"  
  
Scott shook his head clear of everything and stared at the machine in front of him. It did indeed look like a super two-way radio. He picked up the microphone and examined it.  
  
"So how do I get it to work?"  
  
Forge finished putting on a headset and pointed to another on the table. "Put that on, flick the switch and speak in to the microphone, I've already tuned it in to their last used signal."  
  
Scott put the headset on, took a deep breath and flicked the switch on the microphone.  
  
"Hello, this is Cyclops, in anyone there?"  
  
Apart from the light static, only silence.  
  
He repeated his question. Silence again.  
  
"Is anyone there, this is..."  
  
"Hello?" a quiet voice came on over the speakers.  
  
"Hi, who is this?" Scott asked.  
  
"I'm not authorized to say. I don't recognize your voice, who is this?"  
  
Scott looked slightly puzzled, hadn't he just said his name twice already? "This is Cyclops, I..."  
  
*Click* The static returned.  
  
"I lost the connection, what happened Forge?" Scott asked the inventor, who was currently scanning all the equipment. When he finished his diagnosis, he answered.  
  
"She hung up on you."  
  
"Can she do that? I thought we'd still get through even if she didn't answer." Forge thought for a moment and checked some readings again.  
  
"From the abrupt lack of a receiving consol I'd say she somehow stopped it from receiving the signal. Hang on I'll try and re-configure our signal for another of their stations."  
  
"Are you sure that these transmissions can't be intercepted?" Scott looked worried at the prospect of changing the station, what if Forge's calculations were off?  
  
"This is all I do every day, I'm sure, ok?" Forge sounded slightly annoyed, and Scott thought it was probably a really insulting question to a guy like Forge.  
  
"Uh, I'm really...I mean, I know you'd never try this unless you were sure it would work, so..."  
  
"Don't sweat it," Forge replied, still sounding slightly annoyed. A long strained silence broken only by the sound of static and switches being flicked filled the air.  
  
Forge seemed quite happy to let Scott sit in the hole he dug for himself, but something much more important came up. "Hey, I think I got another connection."  
  
The speaker emitted a louder static noise before taking the form of voices, the one from before and an older, agitated male voice.  
  
"...can't have"  
  
"Yeah well they...heard it with me own ears. Someone's...signal"  
  
"This is just what we need. What did they say?"  
  
"Um, not much, just that his name was, um, Sicalops I think. What if it was the humans? What should I do?"  
  
"Wait. See if they try and make contact again...can't know where we are. Contact me if you hear from them again."  
  
A click and a loud static announced the end of the conversation.  
  
"Well, they seem as worried about the humans as we are, that's a good sign isn't it?" Scott asked.  
  
"Yeah, and this signal is defiantly not one of theirs, lets try again, hopefully they won't hang up on us again." Forge replied.  
  
Scott readjusted his headphones whilst Forge flicked a switch and motioned for Scott to talk.  
  
"Is anyone there?"  
  
Pause  
  
"Yes I'm here." The same quite voice from before answered. "Is this Sicalops?"  
  
Scott grinned slightly, "Yes this is 'Cyclops', who is this?"  
  
Pause  
  
"Um, I'm, uh hold on a tic please." A scratchy noise followed by a hushed conversation came over the speakers. Then a new voice came over the line.  
  
"Hello Cyclops, this is Vapor. How are you on our signal?"  
  
Stunned at the directness of the question Scott sat, stuck between opening his mouth and actually saying something. Forge raised an eyebrow at Cyclops, amused.  
  
"Vapor this is Forge, I hacked into your signal, but don't worry, I'm certain that the humans can't hack into your signal, it took me weeks and I have mutant powers to help me. I assume that since you have a code name too that you're a mutant?"  
  
An audible sigh of relief. "Yes I am. Well we are."  
  
Scott decided to speak up. "Are you part of the group that broke into the camps?"  
  
"Yes I am. I've probably said too much already, but I think we should meet in person before anything else is said." A long pause followed with a hushed debate in the background. "Do you know where Bayville High used to be?" At Scott's affirmative answer, Vapor continued, "Great, we'll have some of our people meet some of your people there tomorrow at 0600 hours?"  
  
Scott doubted that many of the guys would be amicable to meeting at 6 in the morning, especially Kurt who would have to teleport them all there, but it was the most sensible hour of the day, they would all be able to travel between Sentinel sweeps and the darkness of the hour gave off less of a feeling of being out in the open.  
  
"Ok we'll be there"  
  
*** The next morning at Bayville high***  
  
"This is cruel and unusual punishment Scott Summers, No-one should be up this early. You're just doing this to me because I was seen right?" Kurt whined, pulling his jacket closer and slumping down on an overturned rusted locker.  
  
Cyclops rolled his eyes and turned to the rest of the group ignoring Kurt. There were a total of five of them, each looking as tired and surly as Kurt, yet they couldn't help whispering excitedly about meeting *the* outsiders.  
  
Forge, who seemed not to need sleep, had spent the night double checking their 'uberwatches' and making sure all the tracking equipment was in order so the guys back at the base could keep track of them, was talking excitedly with a tired looking 15 year-old boy codenamed Mimic, who, while not a mutant, could copy 5 different mutants powers at half power. His current powers were useful in both attack and defense situations, so he was dragged along against his will as a safety plan.  
  
The other person who had actually fallen asleep against was codenamed Ruckus; whose voice could knock most people unconscious. Scott thought it would be a good idea to have a back up plan to their back up plan, which was, simply put, scream at them and run away. Not one of his best plans, but what did people expect on such little sleep, he, as most of the others, had been up all of the night and most of the early morning, too worked up to sleep.  
  
"So you are the ones who had everyone panicking huh? You don't look like anything impressive."  
  
Everyone jumped to their feet and spun around to see three figures dressed entirely in black from head to toe.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Mimic asked.  
  
Scott glared at him. "Mimic! Sorry about him, I'm Cyclops, this is Nightcrawler, Mimic, Ruckus and Forge."  
  
The middle figure turned to the person on her left. After a few moments the left person nodded at the middle figure, who then nodded back and reached up, removing the black balaclava covering their face.  
  
"You're a girl?" Ruckus blurted out. The dark haired, brown-eyed female smirked, and then looked down at herself and back at Ruckus.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" She smiled larger and turned to Cyclops. "Hi, I'm Vapor. These are two of the people I work with." She motioned to the one who spoke first who pulled off his own balaclava to reveal a male around 17 years old with white-blonde hair.  
  
"This is Quicksilver,"  
  
"Hey you're the same age as us," Mimic noted with some confusion. He had built the 'outsiders' up as this professional mutant liberation team who had to go through years of training and examinations, and being his age just didn't fit in to that picture.  
  
"Wow you lot are just full of useful observations today ain't ya?"  
  
Mimic and Ruckus glared angrily at Quicksilver, who mock-glared back at them. Vapor rolled her eyes at their antics and moved onto their other teammate.  
  
"Anyway this is..." The third figure removed their balaclava.  
  
"Oh my god" Cyclops muttered in disbelief.  
  
"Hey Cyclops"  
  
AN – I'm not going to leave it there am I?? I most certainly AM!!! Hahahahahaha! No sorry that's cruel, I really left I it there because the conversation was getting way to long and I need a break to get my head back on track. Ohhh who is the mystery third person??? Invisible cookie to anyone who guesses!  
  
About Vapor – I bet you're all thinking 'NOOOOO! Another OC created for the sole purpose of fulfilling the authors wish to enter the x-men evolution world, NNNOOOO Kill it Kill it!!' Well, rest assured, she's not an OC, strictly, she's in the comics and the X-men novel series about the Cosmic cube, I just tweaked her a little bit (She wasn't said to be a mutant in cannon) to fit this story. Does anyone want to guess who she is?  
  
Oh sorry and putting Mimic and Ruckus in, they were last minute editions, since no-one had any male mutants to suggest I put in, I had to come up with my own (Me, think?) and since I'm reading the Exiles atm and writing a fic with Ruckus in it, in they went.  
  
Thanks go to my wonderful reviewers, who just when I was thinking of abandoning this fic, reviewed and made me feel so good that I jumped on the computer and sat for four hours until I wrote this chapter:  
  
Demonrouge13  
  
Lyranfan: I'm glad you like it, I wasn't sure about messing with the relationships, and you made me feel so much better!  
  
Teyo Tama: Thank-you so much. Your review got me thinking again about this fic  
  
Spectra2: Now your review is what tipped the scales and got me off my lazy butt to write this!  
  
So everyone, you have these 4 people to thank for this chapter!! 


	8. The mystery is gone

When you've lived as long as I think I have, you learn a lot of things. One of the main ones is that you should never think you know what's going to happen next, because life can change in an instant.

I should have that tattooed somewhere because I keep forgetting and stuff just keeps on sneaking up. Not that much can sneak up on me though.

I am Wolverine after all.

But I gotta admit, I never saw all this coming.

No-one did.

The way I remember it starting happened about a year and a half ago.

The old principle from Bayville High had just been elected President and Chuck, 'Ro, Scott, Jennie and I watched his induction on the TV. It was supposedly the beginning of a new age, an age of stability.

Translation from politician to human: Everyone better stop pretending to have super powers and go back to being freaks and misfits. But be quiet about it and don't bother the 'normals'.

The room just reeked of dread and worry, so I reached for the remote and turned it off, just as Kelly got to the part about the 'mutant problem'.

Chuck sighed almost inaudibly, then turned and left the room without a word. He'd been keeping to himself a lot lately so it was no surprise to anyone, but it certainly didn't do anything to list the mood in the room.

Thinking back now I wonder if he knew something. Chuck would never do anything to deliberately put his students in danger, but sometimes his need to protect them and everyone else made him blind to other dangers.

Soon, it became that you couldn't turn on the television without seeing some horrible crime a mutant had committed, or some 'expert' and I use the term loosely, claiming that mutants were not the next step in evolution, or even any step in evolution, but rather the product of today's polluted environment.

Posters began to crop up around town spouting garbage about how mutants weren't really human and if you see one you should report 'it' to the local authorities, all disguised as a public safety poster about what to do if you see an 'unsavory character'.

But things really took a dive the day before the attack.

I was banned from my favorite bar. And I didn't even pop the claws out either. Some jerk just decided that since I was in his seat, and by the way it was my seat, I've been drinking at that bar on and off since before he could walk, and that I could down 30 beers in a sitting that I was a mutant. I was about a heartbeat away from scaring that snot-nosed brat all the way back to his mummy when the bartender broke us up, and said,

"I don't want no trouble Logan. I know you're a good guy, but it's mighty suspicious. Just leave"

He actually said that, I didn't think anyone said that outside those bad action movies. I swear I must be going soft from hanging around all those teenagers, but I managed to leave there with only a growl and a broken glass. The danger room got the beating of a life time though. Reckon it would have cost Chuck a whole heap to fix it after I got through with it. Didn't matter though.

That night I got a call from Fury. Normally I don't even listen to him anymore, but he's damm convincing when he wants to be so I left that night for S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters and apparently some really important and life changing mission. I didn't really care, if it involved beating up some faceless lackeys and trashing government property it was good enough for me.

I should have seen right through him, but I forgot the second thing you learn from living as long as I have. People don't change without reason. In the past Fury always had an underlying motive to everything he sent me to do and I should have guessed that today would be no exception, but I didn't.

And everyone else had to pay the price.

I arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D late that night and was directed to 'meeting room number 4'. I hate 'meeting room number four'. Everything's made of adamantium so I only get sent there to receive a mission if Fury knows I'm not going to like what he's going to say. Too many previously wrecked meeting rooms I guess. As soon as I entered the room I heard the click of the lock inside the thick door close.

I can't believe I walked into such an obvious trap.

Fury's voice came over the speaker phone. He'd just gotten a call from inside Whitehouse contact that Project FOH, or Friends of Humanity to the normals, was passed that afternoon and as he spoke a fleet of 50 sentinels was launching to capture well known and powerful mutants around the world, and any others they came across on the way.

How the President of the United States approved a program that previously put many in jail without raising any eyebrows I'll never know. But he did.

By the time they let me out, Bayville was pretty much the way it was now, a ghost town. Except for the very impressive looking jail-like structure amongst the broken buildings and empty houses.

Once it was decreed that mutants were unsafe to live among normal people, the government needed a place to put them. Kelly pushed for Bayville to be the site of the new mutant 'education and holding' center, but they ended up putting it a bit more towards the major cities. More power to run the security system. A system that miraculously negated mutant powers within the walls of the facility and segregated Alpha level mutants like Chuck in individual holding machines and the other run-of-the-mill mutants in group cells.

Fury apparently didn't want his 'prized toy' being examined too closely by the regular government as they could find many reasons to decree that mutants be exterminated on sight if they portrayed me as the average mutant. A living weapon that's almost impossible to kill.

Fury apparently wasn't too happy about the new regulations, he wouldn't elaborate, but he said he would assist me as much as possible, which was just about short of actually doing something.

He did however give me a very useful set of blueprint to the new jail. I didn't ask and he didn't tell, but I just know some heads are going to roll when someone discovers these missing. Not that they did me much use when I got back to town, what with the power negating force field that surrounded the jail, but it was a start.

I decided I needed more information and more people before I tackled a job that big. Yeah I realize I'm going soft, but it all worked out for the better.

I went looking for one of Chuck's friends, a guy called Lensherr. Didn't find him but eventually found his daughter, a very useful young woman by the name of Anya who could control and turn herself into water. She was in a plane at the time of the first sweep and was out of range of the sentinels. Since then she had been building an almost mini-fort out of the remains of her old house and the houses on her street. She had gathered supplies and extra clothing and was trying to track down other people like herself that escaped capture. She'd found quite a few, as the commotion that the sentinels had caused capturing some mutants had driven others into hiding. When I began to help we found quite a few more. I may be getting soft and all team-work-ish but my tracking is still top notch.

Once we had a decent team, we decided to launch an attack on the jail structure. Using the blueprints Fury gave me, we managed to find a back way in and with some very thorough planning, thanks to Anya's little brother Peitro, who could go over every plan we made and find even the tinniest flaw many times in a short amount of time, we managed to pull off a pretty good break-out.

Sure we forgot that people were just going to scatter the minute they were let out, but that was a minor detail.

We went into hiding for a while after the break-out until the sentinels calmed down, which thanks to the paranoid government was close to three months. But we slowly got back to our routine of plotting jail breaks and recruiting new people for our little group. I had time to teach this group of kids some things about surviving in an environment like this and how not to get caught by sentinel and such.

It was on such a day when I was out with Pietro, who'd named himself Quicksilver and taken to talking very fast and moving around a lot lately, trying to find a new route to a near by department store that didn't involve sentinels, when he stopped mid step and put a hand to his ear. Early on I had sent Anya to raid the institute of any gadgets and hardware that may be useful as she was one of the few mutants that the sentinels seemed to have trouble locking on to. As such whenever we left 'Fort Fort' a name one of the younger residents of our base had given our temporary home, we each carried a communicator and a masking band, which somehow made our 'mutant signal' a lot weaker.

Peitro looked puzzled, then annoyed. I could hear the high pitched voice of his younger sister Lorna on the other end of the communicator. Someone had hacked our communicator signal. And not just anyone, someone named Sicalops. I half-smiled at that, it's about time four-eyes got his act together. Pietro turned to me.

"Should we panic?" he asked, looking thoroughly annoyed rather than concerned. I shook my head.

"Nah, get Anya to tell them to meet us at Bayville high tomorrow morning. We've just found some more troops." Pietro started at me for a half a moment longer before calling through to Anya to take over the radio and relay my instructions.

We headed back after that, and began to plan our journey. Bayville High is probably close to Cyke, knowing he'd flee to a familiar place, but from where we were, it was on the other side of the city. We decided to keep our team small, just me, Anya and Pietro, despite Lorna's protests. Being only 12 and surrounded by 'big kids' she always wanted to help. Her mother had sent her to stay with her older sister Anya when she got mutant powers, magnetism to be precise, at the tender age of 11. As of yet she was unable to lift anything larger than a paperclip, and as such was confined to helping with the radio only. Being in the middle of a war zone just didn't matter to this kid, she just wanted to play superhero.

Eventually Lorna tired herself out and we left late that night. It took us the better part of seven hours to make our way across town, avoiding the sentinels and grabbing some supplies along the way. Even after leaving so early we were still late, but wouldn't you know it, Mr. X-man himself was really there. Surprisingly so was Raven's son Kurt, who was looking a lot bluer these days. Forge I knew only slightly and the other two I hadn't seen before, and I took an instant dislike too. Anya took care of the introductions. However I didn't feel like waiting to be introduced and ripped off the head cover we wore for protection against the cold and to blend in with the dark surroundings more.

"Hey Cyclops"

If I didn't know better I'd have guessed I'd just hit Scott with a truck. This going to be more fun than I thought. Kurt just frowned and then a look of surprise crossed his face mixed with a smirk.

"Badger!"

…….

…….

Yep……a real barrel of laughs.

A/N:

Just a continuity note, this happens after first season but before second, and anything in the first season that had to do with Magneto, Mystique, Quicksilver, Rouge and Nightcrawler never happened, except for the Forge rescue, that happened around the time Kurt first came to the institute. So no Mystique, no Brotherhood, Lance and Todd are at the institute and Fred stayed at the circus.

For some reason I only get motivated to write stories at the worst possible time. Hence the writing in the wee hours of the morning the day before I have assessment due. But this is good news for the story because I have lots more assessment coming up. So lots more time I'm probably going to spend procrastinating. Now If only I could remember what was going to happen next…you didn't all hear that!

Amai Kitsune: Spyke was a good guess. You just reminded me I can't remember where Evan is at the moment! Lucky you brought that up. Now where to put him, outsiders or camp escapee? Do you have any preferences?

Spectra2: My fic only has one flaw? Wow I must be getting better! For some reason your reviews make me smile, even though it was left over a year and a quarter ago…..my bad!

DemonRogue: Yeah Cliff hangers suck. I hate them so much when I'm reading a story. But for some reason they pop up in almost every chapter of my story… I'll try and cut back after this chapter, just for you!


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